These characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.

The Price of a Secret

On this day several years ago, two girls had met.

"Want to be friends?"

Today a boy who was a girl sometimes and a girl who had always been a girl even if she was a tomboy sometimes were going to get married.

She was beautiful. She had always been cute to him: cute short dark hair, cute chocolate brown eyes, cute athletic figure. But in her flowing white dress and framed by the long soft vail she was beautiful. His fingers fidgeted as she walked towards him on the arm of Soun Tendo who was currently trying to drown his mustache. Ranma heard Kasumi softly from her seat "Oh, father."

Akane herself looked calm – she always did, every time he'd seen her in a wedding dress, he thought. Twice he'd seen her in wedding attire. Twice he had lost the chance to stand across from her as she wore it. But not today.

The rain pounding on the roof of the dojo only made the world seem smaller and cozier.

"Good luck to have rain on your wedding day, boy" Gemma had declared.

All the immediate family stood around the couple dressed in the silk and shine of festive attire. Nodoka had wanted a bigger wedding with more decorations. The glint in her eyes was enough to blind the sun. The woman who had lost a son for ten years was about to gain a daughter and the exuberance could barely be contained. Akane had argued against the majority of her future mother-in law's ideas, deciding she didn't even want their classmates there. Ranma didn't care about the details as long as his fiancé was happy and nobody got killed during the ceremony.

So Kasumi and Nodoka had filled the dojo with flowers and strung some lanterns. As an elder of the family, Happosai was required to be present but Nabiki had spent the morning of the chosen date ensuring he was sufficiently unconscious from alcohol. He had been tied up just in-case and left in a corner. The priest kept glancing nervously towards said corner but had chosen not to comment. Gemma was a curious blend of blustering pride and cowering fear because his wife, well aware that his actions at the last wedding were the reason she hadn't been allowed to go all out for this one, hadn't even bothered to bring the sheath for the family katana. Of course Soun had been kept out of the way until he was needed for fear of flooding the entire place.

There were kettles everywhere just in case. Ranma hadn't been concerned about his curse for a while now. But something had to occur to him as a pre-unconscious drunk Happosai had splashed and tried to grope him while he was changing into his suit. He had barricaded himself in the nearest room –Akane's – as she had been changing. He hadn't bothered to doge the dumbbell flying at him. He rarely dodged her attacks. Ranma had endured so much at the hands of his father and every enemy in his life that her attacks had never hurt him. It wasn't great that she was so violent but it had been months since she had attacked with anything less than love and mild irritation. Quickly pulling on a large t-shirt and hiding the dress as best she could, they had stood across from each other blushing. But then he remembered that they both had breasts.

"Akane, I know you said you wanna do this, but you freak out whenever I show you affection as a girl. Do you really want to marry me without the cure?"

Glaring, his bride to be growled "You want to back out NOW?!"

"Nonono! I swear!" Tugging at his pigtail he had glanced at her out of lowered eyes. "But still…"

Akane gave a small giggle at how cute the girl opposite her looked. "Honestly I can't imagine a life without her." She grew more serious. "Plus you can be so dumb about girls. It took so much to get this far. It's hard to imagine that as a girl you don't get a little helpful perspective on life. " But the pre-heated kettles had been gathered anyway, because he wanted to marry her as the Ranma he saw himself as.

Ryoga stood next to Nadoka. Ranma had told him he didn't have to come if it hurt too much, but Akane had blindly insisted that as a 'friend' he should be there. Nothing but a small twitch above his eye to belay that he was anything but fine with Akane's choice. Even if he still crept into her room despite Ranma's best efforts. Ranma had finally been driven to anger. He fought Ryoga with a new aggression, and effort to protect Akane who he had promised to never tell. On his honor.

So there was the whole family plus a close friend, an old pervert, and a priest and a pile of kettles as Akane Tendo drifted towards Ranma on the arm of her father. As she came to stand next to him the entire wedding held it's breath. Across every pair of eyes flashed a tension. But it passed as nothing happened. No loud noises. No battle cries. Besides the curse there was one other thing that made this couple unique. There was no logical reason that this element in its extensive form should make it's presence known and yet the pair couldn't fully trust that chaos incarnate wouldn't appear to stop this moment lifetimes in the making.

Almost a year after Ranma had almost lost Akane, a year after his collective fiancés had practically declared war on his relationship with a woman he had been meant to be with since birth, the distractions had been taken care of. Turning (much to everyone's surprise) to the best strategist he knew, he had sought the aid of one Nabiki Tendo. His future sister in law had plenty of ideas ("consider it an early wedding present") on how her little sister could finally be left in peace with the man Akane had spent the last year practically making googly eyes at. Not that they needed to be alone, the young still-in-denial couple had argued, just that it would be nice if there were a couple less people in the world trying to murder/marry them.

So Ranma and Ryoga had trained Mousse. Ryoga didn't consider that the end-game was Ranma and Akane he just relished the opportunity to try and show Ranma up. They had pushed him, broken and rebuilt the blind duck-boy until he was strong enough to beat Shampoo. Cologne must have known, Mousse was always disappearing and battles were ripping up the Nermia district as never before. But she had done nothing. Truth be told Shampoo had grown soft in Japan and Cologne just wanted her married and back among the Amazon's sooner rather than later.

Akane had kept the kettles going, had the first aid kit on standby, had giggled and murmured with Ranma as she patched him up. Granted this would occasionally be interrupted by the arrival of P-chan or a curious fiancé who had noticed them, and the pair would separate, flushed and smiling but bickering louder than ever.

Kodachi and Kuno had been shipped overseas. Nabiki worked some black magic and convinced Priciple Kuno that his children deserved more time with him…at school in Hawaii. Ranma and Akane had cheered and hugged Nabiki and then each other in excitement. But Nabiki mentally noted her hug had not been quite as intimate. It of course concluded with violent blushing and some light name calling but they proceeded to sit much closer than usual at dinner that night. That could easily have carried into watching t.v. that evening but P-chan had wandered in a caused a squabble. Nabiki had muttered something to Ranma (who had during the fight evolved into Ranma-chan), and instead of proceeding to pick on the pig, Ranma had calmly told Akane that he thought perhaps, he should spend more time with the pig, to get used to him. But P-chan disappeared before Ranma had the chance to spend the night with him. A bemused Akane was so impressed with Ranma's efforts that she kissed him on the cheek.

Soun and Gemma had been on their best behavior. They had promised to wait until the resolution of the fiancé epidemic. And to Nodoka a promise was serious business.

Ukyo had been the hardest to 'resolve'. That had been a fight between Ranma and Akane reminiscent of the old days.

"You love your 'cute fiancé so much, you can eat her cooking the rest of your life!"

" Well my life sure would be longer!"

SMASH

BANG

"Ughhh."

Kasumi thankfully had mediated. She had stepped in only occasionally over the years, but the young couple had made so much progress that she thought they needed to be re-directed. And so they had apologized and Akane had hugged him for good luck with that same sparkle in her eye. And he had lept onto the roofs of Nermia as she watched him. And she had stared as he turned back, charging at her. The kiss had been light. It had been off center and uncertain. But he had kissed her. And then he was gone. He was gone for a long time. He had never wanted to talk about it since. But there had been desperation and threats on her part and irrational words and panic from his part. But he had come back and Nabiki had paid Ukyo off for the lost cart and any relocation expenses.

Then it had just been the two of them. Now that Akane had no competition for Ranma she had stopped trying to cook as much. When she did it wasn't as bad thanks to Nodoka but it still wasn't great. Ranma had rectified this by cooking for her whenever the need arose. He had a few basic recipes up his sleeve. So the family left them home alone more often.

Nodoka's home had finally been repaired but she had been reluctant to share this with the family lest all the couple's growth be stunted yet again. Her solution had been to invite Akane to spend non-school nights at the Saotome house. This had actually been the best move, as Akane was far less violent as a guest than she was in her own home. Ranma ate breakfast with the Tendo family as both families insisted it was his duty to walk his fiancé to school. Observant family members noted that fiancé was a title both individuals had stopped resisting. Nabiki walked behind the couple and noticed that they even held hands, knowing she could see them. Ranma inevitably became female more often than not but the pair didn't let go. They didn't know she could also see them pressed against each other in the shadows of the dojo every evening (occasionally interrupted as Ryoga stumbled onto the premises on accident, P-chan inevitably following close behind and sending Ranma into a mysteriously bad mood) but she figured that there was no money to be made so nobody else found out. Nabiki then graduated and it was just the two of them on the way to school as Ranma held a laughing Akane against him, guiding her along the top of the fence in balance practice, catching her and then not letting go when she eventually fell. The nights that P-chan was around Ranma kept Akane up studying or lightly training her. He would even kiss her with P-chan angrily biting whatever part of Ranma he could attach himself to. Ryoga seemed less excited around Akane and more aggressive around Ranma. P-chan however was still present. There were some elements of his life that Ranma had accepted as permanent. Besides, when he married Akane as he now realized he would, P-chan wouldn't be coming anywhere near his sleeping wife.

The insults stuck but were now said with a laugh. The whacks were lighter and ended in kissing or cuddles. And finally they were old enough to talk. High school was ending and the future loomed. The secret moments evolved from kisses and touched to questions and choices.

The big question was asked in one of these moments. A beautiful evening under the stars on the roof above Akane's room.

Ranma and Akane stood across from each other with love in their eyes and hope for the future. One full of love and children and adventure without everyone in their lives trying to kill them.

And the dojo roof, weakened by years of cheap repaired and continued abuse caved under the weight of the rain.

Right above Ryoga.

Gemma became a panda.

Ranma became a girl.

And Ryoga, as Akane looked directly at him became P-chan.

And Ranma, with his martial arts reflexes, responded to that particular situation immediately.

"Akane, I'm sorry! It's not his fault…"

And Ranma saw Akane's eyes as she realized who P-chan was. How he had acted. How Ranma had kept the secret of another man- a friend- who had spent years sneaking into her bed in disguise.

The final enemy, one that had been festering in their lives since they had met arose. The strongest obstacle Akane had faced in their relationship from the moment she had asked a girl to be friends only to learn that she was a lie. And then every time she turned around another girl had been hanging off of him for so long. Chaos as a last resort had chosen to play the trust card. And to Akane, who had long ago realized that she loved Ranma and that he would never keep something from her that could hurt her, the trust broke.

And hearts broke.